1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surroundings monitoring apparatus for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A surroundings monitoring apparatus for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle is described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-271756 (JP-A-2005-271756). This apparatus monitors the rear of the host vehicle with a rear millimeter wave radar to detect an object approaching the host vehicle from behind, and issues a warning to inform vehicles in the surroundings of the presence of an object that will travel across the rear of the host vehicle. The apparatus thus attempts to avoid a collision between the object and the vehicles in the surroundings.
However, the apparatus of the above related art detects all the objects existing in the rear of the host vehicle, including those moving away from the host vehicle such as a stationary object, in detecting an object approaching the host vehicle from behind. Thus, a considerable time is required before the target object is determined.